Headlight for vehicles.



' A. E. DOBBS. HEADLIGHT FOE VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 28. 1909.

Patented July 27-, 1909.

ARTHUR E. DOBBS, OF WINONA, MINNESOTA.

HEADLIGHT FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 27, 1909.

Application filed April 28, 1909. Serial No. 492,658.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR E. DoBBs, a citizen of the United States,residing at lVinona, in the county of Winona and State of Minnesota,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlights forVelncles, of which the following is a speci- ;ancWith the movements ofthe steeringwheels of the vehicle, wherebythe lamps will lie causedto'throw their rays in the direction in which the vehicle is to travel.

A further object of my invention is to produce a construction of thecharacter stated which will possess advantages of simplicity, eliiciencyand durability, and of a type comparatively inexpensive to mannfacture.

Vith these and. other objects in view my invention consists in certainconstructions, combinations and arrangements of parts the preferred formof which will be first described in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, and then the invention particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

Referring to the drawings wherein the same part is designated. by thesame reference numeral wherever it occurs, Fig ure 1 is a perspectiveview of the front portion of an automobile showing the same providedwith headlights mounted in accordance with my invention, the frontportion of the frame of the chassis being cut away in section to moreclearly disclose the constructionyl ig. 2 is a side View of the frontportion of an automobile provided with my preferredform of construction;Fig. 3 is a detailed sectional'view taken on line 3, 3 of Fig. 2; Fig.4' is-a detailed section taken online 4, 1 of Fig. 2, looking downward,and Fig. 5 is a detailed View of the preferred form of construction whena different type of steering mechanism is used from that shown in Figs.1 to 3 inclusive.

6 indicates the steering-arm of an automobile or the like which is ofany ordinary or desired construction, and is shown as connected tothe't'urning levers 7 of the wheels by the bar 8 in the well knownmanner.

In the form of construction shown in Figs. 1 to 3 inclusive the arm 6swings in the arc of a circle toward and away from the front wheels toturn the wheels as required. y

9, 9 designate the side bars of the chassis, which are of any ordinaryor desired construction, and for the sake of illustration are shown asbeing formed of U-shaped iron commonly employed. In the front portion ofthese side bars 9 I mount a bushing 10 through which passes a lamp'support 12 having a forked head 13 in which the lamp 1 1 is mounted.Preferably, and as shown,

the lower end of the lamp support '12 is screw-threaded and provided onits rear side with a slot 15.

16 is a nut preferably provided with a plurality of radial tappedopenings 17, ex tending through the same, and 18 is an arm threaded atone end, said threaded end being adapted to be secured in the tappedopening 17 of the nut 16. By this construction it will be seen that thenut can be turned up on the lower end of the lamp support as tight asmay be desired, and then byscrewing the arm'l8 into the radial opening17, which is in alinement with the slot 15, the end of thearm willentersaid slot and lock the nut firmly in position on the lower end of thelamp support 12. e

From the above described construction 1t will be understood that an arm18 projects rearwardly from each of the lamp supports, and their rearends are connected together by a distance rod 19 pivoted at its ends 9the ends of the arms 18 by means of the pivots 20. Preferably, and asshown, the rod 19 is formed of two parts which are connected together bya turn buckle 21, whereby the length of therod may be adjusted to bringthe lamps in proper position in relation to each other, and also toadjust the rod for the difierences which exist between the width of theside bars of various makes of automobiles. Secured to the arm 18 of thelamp, located on the same side with the steering device, is anarm 22which extends,

out at right angles to the arm 18 and with its outer end bent down, asshown at 23. Mounted on the steering lever 6 is a yoke 21 of U-form, theends of which are threaded,

and 25 is a bar provided with openings 1 through which the ends of theyoke 24 extend. The yoke 24: and the bar 25 surround thesteermg lever 6,and are clamped thereto bykmeans ot the nuts 26 on the ends of the 27.is a stud projecting from the yoke 24:,

and 28 is a 'bar.pivoted at one end to the arts connected together bymeans of a turn uckle 3-1. As it is when they are not lighted, I connectto the si'rlegof the adjacent side bar 9 a depending arm'-32 carrying atits lower end a stud 33.

' -When it is desired to hold the lamps stationary thecotter pin 30 maybe removed from the endof the stud 27, the bar 28 pulled ofl .said stud,and then the bar placed 25 upon the stud 33. By connecting the bar tothe stud 33 the lamps will be positively held f'st'ationary and beentirely disconnected from the; steering mechanism. 7 e When it isdesired to attach my construc- .36. tion to an automobile having .a formv of steering-gear in which the steering-arm or lever swings in a laneat right an Ice to the line oftravel 6 the vehicle I pre erably use theform of construction indicated in Fig 5 .v 34 is the-transverselymovable steering-lever operated in any desired way. 35 is a bracketextending out from the adjacent side bar 9, and 36 is a bell crank leverpivoted at 3? to thebracket 35. One arm of gfy'this bell crank lever isprovided with the forked end 38 adapted to engage the steering lever 3dwhile the arm 39 is formed to have the end of the bar 28 connectedthereto .in the same manner as thebar is connectedto thestud 27previously described.

\Vhen the parts of my device have been placed on an automobile andconnected together in the manner described the length of therod l9 andthe bar 28 are adjusted by means of-the turn buckles 21 and 31 to causethe lamps to be parallel to each other and also parallel with the planeof the steering desirable not to turn the lights.

wheels. YVhen the wheels are moved by the steering lever the lamps willbe correspondingly swung and will consequently be caused to throw theirlight in the direction in which the vehicle is being J steered insteadof straight ahead. By adjusting the position of the yoke 24 with thesteering lever 6 the amount of turning movement of the lamps inproportion to the turning movement of the steering wheels can be readilyadjusted.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details ofconstruction. and arrangement of parts without departing from the spiritof lily-invention, and I there-'- fore do not intend to limit myself tothe specific form shown and described.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

l. The combination with the steering ap- I paratus of a vehicle having asteering-arm,

of a plurality of bushings mounted on the vehicle, a lamp-supportrotatably mounted in each bushing, he lower end of each of said supportsbeing screwthreaded and having a slot cut in one side thereof, a nutprovided with radial openings threaded on each of said supports, anarm'threaded in one of said openings and extending into said slot,whereby said nut is locked upon said lamp-support, a rod connecting saidarms together and means connecting one of said arms with saidsteering-arm whereby the movement of the steering-arm will rotate saidlamp-brackets.

2. The comlfinat-ion with the steering apparatus of a vehicle having asteering-arm, of a plurality of lamp-supports rotatably mounted upon thevehicle, means connecting said lamp-supports to cause the same to rotatein unison, a bar connected at one end to one of said lamp-supports,means for removably connecting the other end of said bar to saidsteering-arm, and means adjacent Said steering-arm for supporting saidbar when disconnected from said steering-arm.

In testimony whereof l atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ARTHUR EJ DOBBS. Witnesses:

'D. E. TAWNEY,

MAUDE R. WHITE.

